1. Field of the Invention
Embodiments of the invention generally pertain to a light collection and concentration system. More particularly, embodiments on the invention are directed to a solar radiation collection and concentration system and components thereof; methods for light collection, transport, and concentration; and applications of said solar radiation collection and concentration system and components thereof; and, most particularly to a solar energy-concentrated photo-voltaic (CPV) system.
2. Description of Related Art
Numerous solar energy systems and components that make up these systems have been proposed and developed over the 20th century to present. Despite this longstanding effort and the enormous resources devoted to it, solar energy systems available today are not competitive in terms of cost and efficiency with alternative forms of energy production for commercial and residential settings.
FIG. 1 is a cross sectional view that schematically illustrates a generic conventional solar photovoltaic system. Solar radiation 1 is incident on a light collector 2, e.g., a lens. The lens concentrates (focuses) the collected light into an active secondary component 31 that can transport the collected energy to a photovoltaic (PV) cell 8. As shown in FIG. 1, the system comprises a linear array of three units, each containing a lens, a secondary component, and a PV cell.
A well known design goal for solar collection systems is unit size reduction with increased efficiency. That is, solar energy systems may benefit commercially if they are relatively thin, compact, easily deployable, accessible for servicing, and cost efficient. As seen in FIG. 1, there is a one-to-one correspondence between each light collection lens and PV cell.
FIG. 2 illustrates in a manner similar to that of FIG. 1 a more compact design for the system. Each collection lens 2 in FIG. 1 has been replaced by two smaller diameter collection lenses 21 and 22, which together collect the same light flux as the single larger lens 2 in FIG. 1. Although the system deployed in FIG. 2 is thinner than the FIG. 1 system, the size reduction is at a cost of twice the number of active components 311, 312 and PV cells 81, 82. Similarly, if lens component 2 were split into four smaller lenses, the number of active components and PV cells would increase by a factor of four, and so on. The resulting increase in number of components raises both the system cost and potential system failure rate.
In view of these and other known challenges in the solar energy art, the inventors have recognized the benefits and advantages of solar energy systems and associated components that are thinner, more compact, more efficient, more reliable, less costly, and otherwise improved over the current state of the art.